Teams play down new diffuser row

Fears of a fresh row over double diffusers in Formula 1 have been played down by two of the men who helped pioneer the concept last year

Although Ferrari voiced concerns at its launch last month that some of its rivals may be pushing the limits as to what is allowed in this area of car design, Williams technical director Sam Michael and Mercedes GP chief Ross Brawn are not so worried.

Michael and Brawn's teams were two of just three outfits that began the 2009 season with a double diffuser incorporated into their cars - and they do not think there is much room for scoop about further tweaks that could break the rules.

When asked if he shared Ferrari's fears of a fresh row, Michael said: "I would be amazed because it is pretty clear. Once you make a decision on an interpretation, the limit of that interpretation has no bounds - it is what the team can then come up with.

"It is very different to coming up with a different interpretation, so I cannot see that. And I haven't seen anything on the [new] cars that is a different interpretation.

"There are lots of extremes of what is interpreted last year, but that is not a change of regulations. I would be pretty surprised if there was a problem with double diffusers."

Brawn said that there had been some discussions with F1 technical delegate Charlie Whiting at the end of last year, but did not feel there were any grounds for dispute.

"There were some interesting requests to Charlie Whiting a few months ago," he explained. "I thought Charlie was very clear on what he considered to be acceptable, so I think Ferrari is probably referring to those requests because they were pretty extreme and I think they got tidied up.

"Whether there is something we don't know about, who knows? We haven't seen other people's cars. We have got the Red Bull next week and Adrian (Newey) normally manages to think pretty laterally about what he is doing. I am not aware of anything, but we will have to wait and see."